Esther EDGERTON

Esther married Ezra REED on 15 Feb 1790. Ezra (son of Eliakim REED and Sarah RICHARDS) was born on 3 Aug 1765 in Norwalk, Connecticut; died on 31 Jul 1852 in Amenia, New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Almira married Rev. Allan HOLLISTER in abt. 1807. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Cythera married William Alfred BENTON on 20 Feb 1812. William (son of Caleb BENTON, Jr. and Sarah BISHOP) was born on 30 Aug 1788 in Guilford, New Haven Co., Connecticut; died on 12 May 1865; was buried in Benton Burying Ground, Leedsville, Dutchess Co., New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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Fitch Reed began early in life to study for the medical profession, but his religious nature became awakened and presently he felt that he had a call to preach the gospel, and hearkening to the high duty gave up his medical ambitions, to study for the ministry. He became a Minister in the M.E. Church, and preached for more than half a century, during which time he beam widely known and greatly respected. He was a man of unusual intellectual ability.

Fitch married Almeda DANA on 20 Feb 1823 in Amenia, Dutchess Co., New York. Almeda was born on 19 Mar 1799 in Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne Co., Pennsylvania; died on 19 May 1885 in Ithaca, Tompkins Co., New YOrk; was buried in Ithaca City Cemetery, Ithaca, Tompkins Co., New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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They lived for a time in Sharon, where he owned the farm which lies next west of the present golf course of the Sharon Country Club. In 1844 he moved to Michigan, then considered the frontier, but died in the following year, July 20, 1845.

Family/Spouse: Julia CALKINS. Julia was born on 23 Mar 1803 in Sharon, Litchfield Co., Connecticut; died on 24 Nov 1876 in Albion, Calhoun Co., Michigan; was buried in Riverside Cemetery, Albion, Calhoun Co., Michigan . [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact: Dau. of Ezra Reed and Esther Edgerton

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Betsey, like most of her brothers and sisters was tall, and her fine complexion was made more striking by her hair, which was jet black and very heavy and long. At the tine of her death in her seventy-seventh year only a few silver threads were noticeable in it. Her memory is treasured by those who knew her as one who, though outwardly placid and undemonstrative, was a woman of strong feeling and depth of character; one whose ideals were of the highest and who never failed to respond to the call of duty. Despite her wide hospitality and the care of her large family she kept up in her knowledge and in her reading with current events, nor did she lose her taste for the literature of the best old authors.

After marriage she joined the Disciples of Christ, (a denomination often spoken of as "Campbellites,") a church of which her husband and his father were members, and her life to its close was a devout Christian life.

This denomination, in which Mr. Benton was an Elder, was very young at that time, its first church having been organized at Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1809.

Betsey married William Alfred BENTON on 7 Jun 1826. William (son of Caleb BENTON, Jr. and Sarah BISHOP) was born on 30 Aug 1788 in Guilford, New Haven Co., Connecticut; died on 12 May 1865; was buried in Benton Burying Ground, Leedsville, Dutchess Co., New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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Polly never married, nor did she ever seem disposed to marry; and she even carried the sentiment to such an extreme that she never wished her brothers and sisters to marry. She preferred, instead, to remain at home, and she wished everyone else to do the same! But aside from that idiosyncrasy (which was the occasion for more or less merry-making in the family circle) she was a most delightful woman, just running over with goodwill.

She cared faithfully for her parents in their old age, and in her own declining years made her home with her bother Newton, whose kindness to her never abated. She died April 8, 1882, at the home of her birth, aged nearly seventy-nine years.

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Newton succeeded to the farm according to his father's wish, and spent his life there, though he at first planned to study for the ministry. He married Ann Van Dyck, and they had eight children, all of whom grew to maturity. He lost one son, Albert B., in the civil war, and there is a brief sketch of Albert's life and character in the regimental history, "The Dutchess County regiment," etc. At the age of twenty Newton was made an Elder in the South Amenia Presbyterian Church, and as Elder and Deacon he honorably served that church for seventy-nine years; a most unusual record of service.

He was much interested in genealogical and antiquarian researches, and it is largely due to his untiring efforts that so many of the family records have been preserved, though others have continued the work, building on the foundation he had laid. Throughout his life he was a frequent contributor to periodical publications, and it is doubtless true that he was the best informed of anyone on subjects pertaining to the early settlement of this valley, and it is he who should have written this sketch. In his later years he wrote and published "Early History of Amenia," and a great part of the early history of the town would have been irrecoverably lost to us except for this little book, which has now become a standard for reference.

In lived in a part of his father's house while Polly kept house for their parents in the other rooms. After the death of his parents Newton moved into the main part, remodeling it somewhat, having, as already stated, purchased the farm of the estate.

Family/Spouse: Ann VAN DYCK. Ann was born on 5 Oct 1812; died on 21 Mar 1878; was buried in South Amenia Cemetery, Amenia, Dutchess Co., New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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He was for some years a merchant in Wassaic (in the town of Amenia). Then he farmed it a few years, but finally established and carried on for a short time previous to his death the manufacture of woolen yarn at Amenia Union. He held some public offices and was favorably known throughout the county for his public spirit and integrity.

Family/Spouse: Sarah Matilda SMITH. Sarah was born about 1814; died on 24 Jun 1848; was buried in South Amenia Cemetery, Amenia, Dutchess Co., New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Sarah A. FLINT. Sarah was born on 10 Apr 1820 in Amenia, Dutchess Co., New York; died on 30 Dec 1893 in Saint Paul, Ramsey Co., Minnesota; was buried in Amenia Island Cemetery, Amenia, Dutchess Co., New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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Catherine married Rev. William J. MacCord, a Presbyterian clergyman, she being his third wife. Her own child was not living when it was born, but she was a faithful mother to his other children, by whom she was greatly beloved to the close of her long life; as indeed she was by everyone who knew her. In their old age they lived in Wassaic, and her husband died there. Later she made it her home with her nephew, Henry Van Dyck reed, at the house where she was born, and where she died February 23, 1901, aged ninety-one years, two months and six days. Her's was the longest life in that family, she being the only member of it who lived into the twentieth century.

Family/Spouse: Rev. William J. MACCORD. William was born on 19 Oct 1810; died on 28 Jul 1888; was buried in Smithfield Cemetery, Smithfield, Dutchess Co., New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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Emeline married Noah Gridley, the youngest member of the firm which began the manufacture of iron at Wassaic, and in time he became the owner of the business, which under his wise management became very prosperous and he accumulated a handsome property. They had two sons, Henry and Edward, both of whom were active assistants in the business.

Henry graduated from Amherst (Massachusetts) College in 1862, the president of his class. The civil war was in progress then, and he immediately accepted a commission as First Lieutenant in Company A., of the 150th New York volunteer Infantry, a regiment which he had an active part in organizing. He was killed in battle at a place known as "Kolb's Farm," near Marietta, Georgia, being shot through the heart while at the head of his Company. ..

After the war, Edward joined his father in business, under the firm name of "N. Gridley & Son," He married Emma S. Reed, but had no children. After his death his widow married Elias B. Reed.

Emeline's husband and her son Edward died eleven years before she did. She had always mourned for her dead soldier-boy, and now in her old age she was left without husband or descendants, and there fell to her lot in her last days much of sickness, of suffering and nervous unrest. Throughout her life her character had been one of great strength and marked personality, with deep christian devotion, and these qualities sustained her in the last sad years. In their home during a long term of years there had been exercised a wider and more constant hospitality than is often known, and in innumerable ways her life was a life of doing for others.

She died February 3, 1898, aged eighty-six years. After the civil war was ended Henry's remains were brought home, and her family circle is now complete in the cemetery plot at South Amenia.

Family/Spouse: Noah GRIDLEY. Noah was born on 16 Jul 1802; died on 26 Jun 1887; was buried in South Amenia Cemetery, Amenia, Dutchess Co., New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]